Five top EU MICE tourism destinations identified

Tuesday 21, January 2014

Where should you hold your next meeting, conference or convention? Where should you send your team to and make it your next incentive destination?

The Meeting, Incentive, Conferencing, Exhibition business also known as MICE is big business in the travel and tourism sector worldwide. Conference centers, hotels, restaurants, airlines, transportation companies, shops - they all love it. In the European Union London represents the top city and Germany the top country.

A survey was based on the experience and opinions of 12,012 business executives from 28 EU countries.

After London, the EU business tourism destination cities include Vienna in second place, Barcelona in third place, Berlin in fourth place and Paris in fifth place.In a survey conducted by ICERTIAS (International Certification Association ) in Germany respondents were asked the following question regarding their opinion of which cities were best suited for business: "Which city in the European Union, in your experience and opinion, offers the best quality in terms of MICE services, i.e. offering services related to business meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions for business people and companies."

The survey also asked respondents the following question on countries: "Which country in the European Union, in your experience and opinion, offers the best quality in terms of MICE services, i.e. offering services related to business meetings, incentives, conferencing and exhibitions for business people and companies."

Each question in the survey was open-ended. Respondents were not provided with answers in any form and could type in the name of any city or country they felt had the best price-quality ratio for MICE services. The format was intended to gauge their opinion from an EU sense, so any city or country in the European Union was an acceptable answer.

A total of 12,012 business executives from 28 EU countries. The survey was conducted from October 23 to December 12, 2013.

Conducted only in the English language for all participating countries, the survey employed a CAWI (Computer Assisted Web Interviewing) methodology with an innovative (Deep Mind Awareness) examination technique. Respondents were encouraged to think about their answer, take time with their replies and not give the first answer that came to mind (top of the mind).

They were also asked not to specify which countries and cities they most frequently go to on business trips (because those destinations are closest to where they work, or their company works in co-operation with companies from that particular country, city, etc.).

Instead, respondents were asked to think based on their personal experience and that of their colleagues, specifically the city or country they personally believe offers the best quality for business people and companies regarding MICE services.

Survey respondents were not allowed to specify cities and countries where they live and work most of the year (more than six months annually).

This is the first QUality meDAL research of this kind, related to MICE destinations, that ICERTIAS has conducted on an EU scale and on an international level.

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